Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

Note! Your computer might be affected by dnslockington.exe and other threats.

Threats such as dnslockington.exe may be persistent on your system. They tend to re-appear if not fully deleted. A malware removal tool like SpyHunter will help you to remove malicious programs, saving you the time and the struggle of tracking down numerous malicious files.SpyHunter’s scanner is free but the paid version is needed to remove the malware threats. Read SpyHunter’s EULA and Privacy Policy

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

A new adware, resembling the infamous DNS Unlocker has been reported to affect users by heavily displaying online advertisements on their computers. The application may be advertised as a helpful software to cope with online content that is blocked in the country of the user. However, it is also rendered as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program) because besides modifying certain settings in Google Chrome, Firefox or IE, it may also collect certain information from PCs its installed on. The main risk associated with the Dnslockington is that it may advertise third-party websites that may be suspicious and dangerous to the user.

Name

dnslockington.exe

Type

Adware executable.

Short Description

The process may do various dangerous or unhealthy to the PC activities.

Symptoms

The user may witness fake Java Update adsas well as redirects to other potentially harmful domains. Significant slowing down of the PC is highly likely.

Distribution Method

Via PUPs, installed by bundling or by visiting a suspicious third-party site that is advertising it.

Dnslockington.exe Spread

Similar to DNS Unlocker, this ad-supported application may use several different methods to be installed on your computer. One of them is via other unwanted programs that may redirect you to an installer which may add it as a browser extension. The software may also be advertised as a legitimate helper on a shady website on which users tend to be led by clicking on an ad.

The most dominant method of distribution, however, may be what is known as bundled install. This means that when a new free program is being downloaded from a third-party website it may have Dnslockington included in it. Often users who download free programs do not use the official websites of the freeware or use torrent websites. Sometimes the installers of those freeware apps may contain PUPs.

To protect yourself in the future and counter this aggressive marketing, it is advisable to take some precautions:

Always choose the “Custom” or “Advanced” installation options.

Use software that automatically spots words such as bundling, like EULALyzer or check manually the End User License Agreement for such.

Dnslockington In Detail

After it has been installed and is running on your PC, the process Dnslockington.exe, usually located in %Program Files(x86)% may elevate its permissions and modify the default DNS address, changing it to a custom one. This is particularly dangerous because the packets of data moving may be captured by the creators of this ad-supported PUP. Furthermore, besides the Dnslockington.exe file, the program may also situate support files in a folder, named DNS Unlocker, for example:

The executable may become active and stay active in the Windows Task Manager, and the program may insert custom values to additionally prevent Uninstall.

Furthermore, besides making values In the Registry Editor, the program may also modify existing ones that may allow it to perform different activities, like change system settings, for example.

The main activity associated with Dnslockington.exe is reported to be the heavily taking over of the ad-spaces of the web browsers of the user to display its own adverts. And what is worse, ad-blocking software may not be able to do anything to prevent it, because the program runs internally. Other advertisements by this believed to be a variant of DNS Unlocker may be heavy displaying of pop-ups and browser redirects. There are also reports that indicate the software may use highlighted text ads.

The primary concern of malware researchers is that dnslockinghood.exe may:

Collect different information about the user. (Location, language, system info, security software, etc.)

Infect the user with malware by displaying malicious advertisements. (Less likely but typical for adware programs).

The information which is collected may be shared by other parties with either marketing or other purposes, and it may be used to display targeted advertisements that correspond to what you have searched online. This is known as behavioral advertising. It is considered that cyber-scammers use adware primarily to boost hoax traffic by inducing browser redirects to underdeveloped third-party sites, but some of those “developers” do not mind advertising malicious URLs via their ad-supported applications. This is why it recommended to have a decent knowledge and malware protection and update both of them to stay ahead and remain as secure as possible for longer.

Removing Dnslockington.exe

If you have experienced the symptoms above and have decided to get rid of Dnslockington, it is highly recommended to uninstall this ad-supported app in a swift manner. We advise following the step-by-step manual below and to download and install an advanced anti-malware protection which unlike the conventional antivirus will detect and remove all objects (keys and files) associated with Dnslockington. Besides detecting this and other software of the same character, an anti-malware software may also be combined with an antivirus tool to ensure a higher level of protection against future infiltrations.

Delete dnslockington.exe from Windows and Your Browser

1.Remove dnslockington.exe in Windows

Remove dnslockington.exe files

Since the conventional uninstall may not work for this software, you need to take a more tech savvy approach:

Step 1: Navigate to its folder in %Program Files% or %Program Files(x86)%:

Step 2: Mark it with your mouse and press Shift + Delete after which confirm with Yes To All.

Step 3: If some files cannot be deleted, the following pop-up will appear. In it opt in the “Do this for all items” option after which continue.

At this point you have removed all the files that are not protected by the elevated permission of dnslockington.exe. To remove the remaining files, you need to download file-deletion software. We advise using Delete Doctor because it is free.

Step 1: Download and Install Delete Doctor:

Step 2: Browse for and choose the remaining files that cannot be deleted by clicking on the Browse button:

Step 3: Choose between the different file deletion methods, the program offers. We advise choosing from the methods highlighted in yellow below. First attempt via DOS short name and if it does not work, choose to delete the file on System Restart. Do the same with the other files and you shall delete it:

After the successfull file deletion it is time to clean the registry editor that may have modified values and keys that prevented this program from Uninstalling in the first place. To do this, visit the instructive article on Fixing up Your Windows Registry Errors Caused by Malware.

2.Remove dnslockington.exe from Your Browser

Remove dnslockington.exe from Your Browser.

After removing this program from your computer, it is time to clean your browser by resetting your web browser and deleting browser extensions and plugins from it.

Remove a toolbar from Mozilla FirefoxRemove a toolbar from Google Chrome Remove a toolbar from Internet Explorer Remove a toolbar from Safari

Start Mozilla Firefox Open the menu window

Select the “Add-ons” icon from the menu

Select dnslockington.exe and click “Remove”

After dnslockington.exe is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red “X” in the top right corner and start it again.

Start Google Chrome and Open the drop menu

Move the cursor over “Tools” and then from the extended menu choose “Extensions“

From the opened “Extensions” menu locate dnslockington.exe and click on the garbage bin icon on the right of it.

After dnslockington.exe is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red “X” in the top right corner and start it again.

Start Internet Explorer:

Click “‘Tools’ to open the drop menu and select ‘Manage Add-ons’

In the ‘Manage Add-ons’ window, make sure that in the first window ‘Add-on Types’, the drop menu ‘Show’ is on ‘All add-ons’

Select dnslockington.exe to remove, and then click ‘Disable’. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected toolbar, and some additional toolbars might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click ‘Disable’.

After dnslockington.exe has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red ‘X’ in the top right corner and start it again.

Start Safari

Open the drop menu by clicking on the sprocket icon in the top right corner.

From the drop menu select ‘Preferences’ In the new window select ‘Extensions’ Click once on dnslockington.exe Click ‘Uninstall’

A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to uninstall dnslockington.exe. Select ‘Uninstall’ again, and the dnslockington.exe will be removed.

Remove dnslockington.exe with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

Since some files may be left-over after manual removal it is advisable to user anti-malware software:

1. Install SpyHunter to scan for and remove dnslockington.exe.2. Scan with SpyHunter to Detect and Remove dnslockington.exe.

Step 1:Click here to go to SpyHunter’s download instruction page.Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to automatically update.

Step1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Scan Computer Now’ button.Step2: After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any dnslockington.exe files, click on the ‘Fix Threats’ button to remove them automatically and permanently.Step3: Once the intrusions on your PC have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart it.

2. Back up your data to secure it against attacks related to dnslockington.exe in the future

Back up your data to secure it against attacks in the future

IMPORTANT! Before reading the Windows backup instructions, we highly recommend to back up your data automatically with cloud backup and insure it against any type of data loss on your device, even the most severe. We recommend reading more about and downloading SOS Online Backup.

1-Click on Windows Start Menu 2-Type Backup And Restore 3-Open it and click on Set Up Backup 4-A window will appear asking you where to set up backup. You should have a flash drive or an external hard drive. Mark it by clicking on it with your mouse then click on Next. 5-On the next window, the system will ask you what do you want to backup. Choose the ‘Let Me Choose’ option and then click on Next. 6-Click on ‘Save settings and run backup’ on the next window in order to protect your files from possible attacks by dnslockington.exe.

1-Press Windows button + R 2-In the window type ‘filehistory’ and press Enter 3-A File History window will appear. Click on ‘Configure file history settings’ 4-The configuration menu for File History will appear. Click on ‘Turn On’. After its on, click on Select Drive in order to select the backup drive. It is recommended to choose an external HDD, SSD or a USB stick whose memory capacity is corresponding to the size of the files you want to backup. 5-Select the drive then click on ‘Ok’ in order to set up file backup and protect yourself from dnslockington.exe.

1- Press Windows button + R keys. 2- A run windows should appear. In it type ‘sysdm.cpl’ and then click on Run. 3- A System Properties windows should appear. In it choose System Protection. 5- Click on Turn on system protection and select the size on the hard disk you want to utilize for system protection. 6- Click on Ok and you should see an indication in Protection settings that the protection from dnslockington.exe is on.Restoring a file via Windows Defense feature: 1-Right-click on the encrypted file, then choose Properties. 2-Click on the Previous Versions tab and then mark the last version of the file. 3-Click on Apply and Ok and the file encrypted by dnslockington.exe should be restored.

Optional: Using Alternative Anti-Malware Tools

Remove dnslockington.exe Using Other Alternative Tools

STOPZilla Anti Malware

1. Download and Install STOPZilla Anti-malware to Scan for And Remove dnslockington.exe.Step 1: Download STOPZilla by clicking here.Step 2: A pop-up window will appear. Click on the ‘Save File’ button. If it does not, click on the Download button and save it afterwards.Step 3: After you have downloaded the setup, simply open it.Step 4: The installer should appear. Click on the ‘Next’ button.Step 5: Check the ‘I accept the agreement’ check circle if not checked if you accept it and click the ‘Next’ button once again.Step 6: Review and click on the ‘Install’ button.Step 7: After the installation process has completed click on the ‘Finish’ button.

2. Scan your PC with STOPZilla Anti Malware to remove all dnslockington.exe associated files completely.Step 1:Launch STOPZilla if you haven’t launched it after install.Step 2: Wait for the software to automatically scan and then click on the ‘Repair Now’ button. If it does not scan automatically, click on the ‘Scan Now’ button.Step 3: After the removal of all threats and associated objects, you should Restart your PC.

NOTE! Substantial notification about the dnslockington.exe threat: Manual removal of dnslockington.exe requires interference with system files and registries. Thus, it can cause damage to your PC. Even if your computer skills are not at a professional level, don’t worry. You can do the removal yourself just in 5 minutes, using a malware removal tool.

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.